Beyond the endless mounds of rubble, rebar, dust and destroyed homes... 

 In the midst of the city chaos...'

There is resiliency.... 

There is joy...

THERE IS HOPE!

 

One of the most interesting facts discovered in this interview was that God led us to meet this deacon and a few church members while their pastor was away from the church serving food to 100s of mentally ill in another town.

 

Only God could have led us to this church on the very day out of a 2 year rotation!  What do I mean?  One day in a 2 year rotation, this church pastor and leaders go to the Mental Hospital to provide a meal for those of the country who are in the mental institution.  The next year they go one day of the year to the jail to share Jesus and feed the inmates.

 It has been four months since the earth shook with an intensity previously unknown to the residents of Port-Au-Prince. Millions of dollars in aid has been sent to Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of tents and tarps have been distributed amongst the displaced. 

But for the roughly 3,500 who live in Kdatp there has been no help. There is still no relief.

My friend Doug and I fly out for Port au Prince on Sunday for one of AIM's weeklong relief trips to Haiti. It's the first time either of us has been on a missions trip or visited a third-world country. Personally, I'd never really given much thought to going on a trip like this-that was something other people did, right? But when the earthquake hit and the news media showed the world the devastation and destruction that followed, it hit home for both of us. We knew we had to do... something. So we signed on with AIM, bought plane tickets, and started getting ready.

Even I came looking to see what I could do for Haiti. I came looking for how I to write and tell the world the things I see happening, the stories of what Haitians are enduring, the ways people can help this nation even if they are unable to leave their own. 

Haiti has begun picking up the pieces since January 12th and many of the pastors of Haiti have gotten to lead the process.

In doing so, they have been able to lead the country to the feet of Jesus.  Ian Robertson captures a bit of what it looks like for the pastors.

  

 

When the earthquake first hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, scores of government organizations and NGOs arrived to assist in the immediate sheltering and feeding of the Haitians. Unfortunately, in times of crisis, people are often overlooked. 

 

The Lord led the YMATH team to a particular camp that were doing the best they could to survive; they had remained isolated and unreached since the earthquake. Since that time Marassa has become one of the top ministry locations for us. The YMATH team did a video of their first initial contact with Marassa. If you're going on a trip with AIM to Haiti, you may minister in this area.

Pastor Enoch is one of the pastors we are working with in Port-Au-Prince, and he felt called to do just that. Eventually, he moved into another home just above his first one, but for a while, his home - housing himself, his wife and the eight children they care for - was also a church.

 

During the earthquake, the church remained standing but not without a fight. Its roof caved in, and some of the walls were cracked and crumbling.